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My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:17 pm
by jca
It was working fine yesterday but when I powered it up today only the power LED and the fan came on.
I replaced the SD card with another one, same thing.
I removed everything and powered the DE-10 nano, same thing.
I wiggled the DE-10 nano in case of bad contact, same thing.
I checked my power supply which is OK.
The only thing I can think of is that I powered my USB hub before powering the DE-10 nano.
Would this explain the premature death of the DE-10 nano?
What can I check to figure out what is wrong?
Thanks.

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 12:53 pm
by Brettster
I've had a similar issue to this since the first day I got my DE10. Sometimes I just have to power it off and on again and it all boots up fine.
hope this isnt a sign that mines about to die too!

do you get any output from the HDMI when you power it up?

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 3:41 pm
by tankjr
I can’t imagine powering the USB hub while not powering the DE-10 nano would kill it. It’s certainly possible though, because not every USB hub is created equally. I would carefully inspect the DE-10 nano’s traces and solder joints. It’s possible something got in there and is causing a short. These things really ought to be in a protective case. I feel bad every time I handle mine bare-handed and unprotected :?

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 5:02 pm
by rgavril
Make sure you haven't changed the SW10 dip switches by mistake, compare them to one from this image:
https://misterfpga.co.uk/mister-de10-na ... -settings/

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:07 pm
by jca
Thanks for all your answers.
My MISTer is not yet in a case but I am very careful with it. The only thing I do is to power it on/off, I did not take out the SD card in ages as I always use ftp or ssh. When this happened I had the MISTer powered off the previous evening and just powered it the next day. In between I did not get near it. I tried with a different SD card (not up to date but it does not matter). I disconnected everything and powered the bare DE-10 nano with just the SD card. I wiggled the switches but the wrong ones, I will try again later with the right ones but my MISTer has been running for a long time with them set properly. I mentioned that I powered the USB hub first but I do not believe that is the problem. I also dusted the board as there was a tiny bit of very fine dust due to the fan.
NO LEDs on besides power and no HDMI out. I am puzzled.
I emailed Terasic and got a very fast answer. I will try what they said later on and after I find the original Terasic SD card or make a new one. I mentioned the thing about the USB hub but they did not say anything about that. I will examine the board very carefully with my magnifying glasses.
I am not very optimistic about it as this happened "by itself" overnight.
I will let you know if I find something. For the time being my Amazon order is almost ready and as I wanted to upgrade the memory I see that MisterAddons sells it on Amazon. Does anyone has experience with them? I also see that the Chinese took the opportunity (as usual) and sell I/O boards, memory boards; No thanks!

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:40 am
by someone31988
Wow, mine appears to have done the same thing. I had moved it from one CRT TV to another and when I decided to fire it up tonight to play some games, I got zero video output.

I've tried the following:
  • Connect via HDMI to OLED TV > no output
  • Tried the other CRT TV > no output
  • Removed USB hub, I/O board, and SDRAM and tried the bare DE-10 Nano connected to the OLED TV > no output
  • Tried a different memory card with a fresh image > no output
  • Checked the dipswitches > they're correct
I'm not sure what else to do here. Did the thing really just crap out on me when I moved it 10 feet across the room?

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:59 pm
by tankjr
someone31988 wrote: Wed Nov 18, 2020 2:40 am I'm not sure what else to do here. Did the thing really just crap out on me when I moved it 10 feet across the room?
Is the room carpeted? Static may have damaged your board.

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 8:05 pm
by jca
Update:
I have been really busy at work and at home; I also was so pissed that I did not come close to the cadaver.
Yesterday I decided to have a look:
After 2 weeks laying down no stinky rotten smell. That was a good sign.
Upon examination with magnifier no broken bone, arteries, ... Another good sign.
When the DE-10 nano died I wanted to wiggle the dip switches but I was so upset that I wiggled the slide switches. It did not look right at the time but after spending a lot of time figuring out what was wrong I decided to leave it like that before I broke anything.
So yesterday I wiggled each micro switch 4 times to give them enough wiggle and reset them to their original position.
I powered the DE-10 nano and ........ it came back to life, it was just in a coma.
I powered it down, reconnected everything, ran the update script and so far everything is fine.
I guess the dip switches are not of the best quality.

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 9:39 pm
by OriginalXOR
Sometimes I have noticed if the SD card is not inserted properly the DE10 doesn't boot. Must admit it's caused me a few heart stopping moments, but I've learned to check for this if my DE10 doesn't power on as expected.

Re: My DE-10 nano died

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2020 3:09 pm
by Ripper61
OriginalXOR wrote: Sun Nov 29, 2020 9:39 pm Sometimes I have noticed if the SD card is not inserted properly the DE10 doesn't boot. Must admit it's caused me a few heart stopping moments, but I've learned to check for this if my DE10 doesn't power on as expected.
I had a similar heart stopping moment with a Raspberry Pi until I realised that I had omitted to insert its SD card. The other is when you have 2 switches controlling the power and you only turn one on.